CFI'S pOINT OF VIEW CAUGHT IN A CROSSWIND BY ED HELMICK A STUDENT PILOT, TWO DAYS PRIOR TO HIS SCHEDULED PRIVATE PILOT CHECKRIDE FROM AN UNCONTROLLED AIRPORT, WANTED ADDITIONAL SOLO EXPERIENCE AT A NEARBY CLASS DELTA AIRPORT. The previous evening, the student pilot and his instructor discussed the flight. On the morning of the solo flight, the pilot stated the wind was starting to pick up, " but was pretty much down the runway " when he decided to take off. Crossing the bay toward the Class Delta airport, the student pilot observed whitecaps on the water and realized the air was getting " pretty turbulent. " The student decided to return to his home airport. On his landing attempt, he encountered what he described as a " microburst or intense wind " and lost control of the airplane. It cartwheeled several times and impacted the airport perimeter fence. The student pilot was seriously injured, including a brain concussion. Wind at the Class Delta airport prior to the airplane's takeoff from his uncontrolled home airport was 16 knots and gusting to 26. Twenty-eight minutes after the crash, the Class Delta airport winds were reported at 22 knots and gusting to 40. A pilot working in his hangar at the airport the